Macon/Warner-Robins Z 93.7 (WPEZ/Macon)

[Cousin Artie]

Random thoughts..

1) Dublin’s 98.1 and 103.1 (classic hits) and Milledgeville’s 97.7 (also classic hits) sound significantly better than Z93.7. All around better packaging which is…well, sad and embarrassing. Should be, anyway.

2) How old are their jingles? Sounds like a Soft AC package from ‘80s. Absolutely awful. They do realize that jingles are available via barter, don’t they?

3) The imaging isn’t anything to write home about, either. Slightly less generic than it used to be, but far short of the opportunities that format can provide.

With its format window on the market (room to adjust), lack of competition, and that 100k signal, Z 93.7 has never come anywhere close to its potential. A wasted opportunity for many, many years.

 

[acheron1982]

growing up in the 90s (I’m from Vidalia), it was the Savannah and Macon areas that had the amazing professional sounding stations. Local community stations were all satellite fed with little to no local talent. In Vidalia, outside of religious stations, it was country and one AC station. I would have an outdoor antenna hooked to my childhood trailer where I grew up to get rock radio like Q106 (Macon) of I95 (Savannah).

Fast forward 20 years and it’s flipped. These smaller cities like Savannah and Macon where iHM and Cumulus dominate are now satellite ran and more local talent in the rural areas. I’m sure there is financial reasons behind it. Per capita, would be willing to bet there are more traditional radio listeners in rural areas.

I now live in Atlanta and go to Vidalia often. Q106, now that it’s on a weaker signal, is not longer heard in Vidalia. I95 is but the playlist is still the same stale 200 song playlist that they have played since at least 2005. Imaging on I95 is awful - No longer the strong force it once was.

Perhaps it’s cheaper for the big companies to simply put the stations on auto pilot. PD no longer have any power over these stations. Limited to no local talent.

Q106 may be 100% satellite fed. I95 may or may not be satellite fed but the playlist is predictable. If country is your taste, before you listen to the Bull in Macon or Kix in Savannah, many may prefer Y96 (Dublin), Z94 (Baxley) and 106.7 The Buck (Douglas).

Side Note: The formula for RadioJones out of Dublin is interesting. They have purchased seven or eight translators all along I-16 between Dublin and Statesboro and have formatted nearly all of them as Classic Hits. They usually have no DJ’s and the music seems to be locally programmed on auto pilot which I guess is cheaper than using a satellite feed from Westwood. Wished these classic hits stations had some niche to differentiate between each other but the playlists seem identical. The odd ball station, not owned by RadioJones is WKKZ which has the same jingles as they did in the 80s with a format that rides the line of AC, Classic Hits and even a random indie alternative spin from time to time to make you go, WTF….